Sunday, December 11, 2011

Adventure Comics #151 - April 1950

Comics Weekend "The Biography of Black Jack!" by Walter Isaacson and John Daly.It's Adventure Sunday!I take it back--this is my favorite Superboy cover, bar none. I hope Kal took the bullet he caught and threw it back at the hunter at super-speed.

Anyway, for those of you who don't get enough Black Jack--and who can, really?--this story ought to satisfy you. Behold--The Biography of Black Jack!

...and with that, so ends another adventure with Aquaman!

I posted all six pages of this story, because...sadly, I must report this is the last appearance of Black Jack! Yes, according to Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics, Aquaman's #1 foe (Quantity Not Quality Division) made no further appearances after this story. And if you choose to, you can kinda see this story as a send-off to the character: Aquaman spends the whole thing humiliating the guy, so bad that seemingly gives up a life of crime.

Now, for all we know Grant Morrison or Geoff Johns has worked him into a more recent story and neither MAWODCC or the CBDB have caught up yet. And with Aquaman having a new series, who can really say that Scourge of the Sea is gone forever?

That said, you have to really chalk one up for the Golden Age Aquaman here: he defeated his #1 foe with just a few punches, neutralizing him as a threat for the rest of his life. If only the Silver Age Aquaman could say the same about his arch-nemeses...

A book of great pirates that excludes Black Jack? Must have something to do with his track record. Well, farewell Black Jack. You were perhaps the worst sea-faring criminal I've ever come across, but I'll miss you.